Lernmaterialien für Theme 4: A Global Perspective an der University College London, University of London

• Increased trade 
• Greater choice of imports
• Increased competition / lower prices 
• Lower costs for firms
• Migration
• Global economic cycle effects the UK more
• Shifting sectors/structural unemployment
• Tax avoidance
• Growing inequality
• Environmental problems
  

• Workers can take advantage  of job opportunities across the globe  , rather than just in their home country
• However, there could be  structural unemployment. For example, in the UK after the collapse of the ship building and mining industries, there was a lot of structural unemployment. This is because it was more efficient for manufacturing to occur abroad, so production shifted to lower labour cost nations 
  • HOWEVER, It could be ARGUED did  countries would have had the change from agriculture to manufacturing to services anyway , and  globalization simply sped it up
• When production shifts to lower labour cost countries, the creation of jobs could be seen as either  beneficial or harmful  . On one hand, MNCs could be exploiting their labour and  providing poor working conditions in, for example, sweatshops
  • On the other hand,  working in a sweatshop  might Provide a  higher, more stable income than any alternative  ,: such as agriculture. 
• In terms of employment, some people have gained whilst others have lost. There have been large scale job losses in the western world in manufacturing sectors as these jobs have been transferred to countries such as China and Poland. 
• Increased migration may affect workers by lowering wages but migrants can also provide important skills and an increase in AD which increases the number of jobs. 
• International competition has led to a fall in wages (or reduced growth) for low skilled workers in developed countries whilst increased those in developing countries.
• The wages for high skilled workers appear to be increasing, since there is more demand for their work; this is increasing inequality.
• TNCs tend to provide training for workers and create new jobs

A contagion is the spread of an economic crisis from one market or region to another and can occur at both a domestic or international level

Occurs when a company in one country establishes operations in another country or when it acquires physical assets or a stake in an overseas company.

• Increased trade as a proportion of GDP 
• Increased foreign direct investment (FDI)
• Greater free trade
• Greater movement of labour
• Increased capital flows.
• The growth of multi-national companies.
• Increased integration of the global trade cycle.
• Increased communication and improved transport, effectively reducing barriers between countries

• There could be trade imbalances between countries. For example, the US runs a large current account deficit with China, who has a large current account surplus.
• There could be imbalances and inequalities in consumers 'and countries' accesses  to health, education and markets 
• Within individual countries, there could be  income and wealth inequalities if the benefits and costs of globalization are   not evenly spread . This is evident in China, where the population in the rural and urban areas have vastly different levels of income and living standards. 
• Culture could spread across the globe . Some might say this has weakened culture and that there has been a  loss of cultural diversity due to global brands . However, others will argue that the spread of culture has been positive and helped to improve their quality of life. 

• The process of countries' economies becoming increasingly interdependent
• Globalisation is a process by which economies and cultures have been drawn deeper together and have become more inter-connected through global networks of trade, capital flows, and the rapid spread of technology and global media. 

• Increasing number and influence of global companies
  • There has been a large increase in foreign direct investment by firms over the past 50 years. This has led to an increase in the number of businesses that are owned by an entity in another country. 
• Improvements in transport infrastructure and operations
  • Individuals and small businesses are now able to ship their products internationally due to improvements in transportation. This has resulted in firms and individuals gaining access to much larger markets from a range of international countries. 
• Improvements in communications technology and IT
  • The rise of the internet has meant that goods / services can now be sold online. What this means for businesses is that they can have their headquarters in one location, but can still sell to people in other locations around the world. This reduces costs massively for firms as they are not restricted to selling their products in only locations where they have businesses placed. 
• Trade liberalisation and trading blocs
  • The increase in trade amongst countries has been down to the trade liberalization that has taken place over the years, helped by the introduction of the world trade organization and trading blocs such as the European Union. Both of which encourage free trade amongst countries. As such, the interdependence of countries has increased massively. 
• The opening up of China and collapse of communism in Eastern Europe
• Increased importance of global companies or MNCs 
  • MNCs have undertaken much FDI, which frequently involves manufacturing to a country where production costs are lower (offshoring)